Throwing Like a Girl

I have a hard time understanding why there is such a disconnect between women and sports. Some of the best outings to me have been attending live sporting events and getting to watch players duke it out with a crowded sea of thousands roaring alongside them- the energy is infectious.

I am thrilled when my teams win and get frustrated when they lose.

I'm a sports-enthusiast who happens to be a woman.

The night of my 25th birthday I was about to leave to meet my friends for dinner and was yelling at my basketball team- heels and dress on, hair curled and all- while I watched them lose in overtime on T.V. I often check score-updates on my iPhone, I listen to sports talk-radio and I always choose one of the treadmills in front of ESPN at the gym. I'm also not a retired female coach sitting in a booth giving commentary and I'm not a swimsuit model who moonlights as a sideline reporter, who are the typical women seen in sports-news. I am not an athlete and I do not keep up with sports to please a significant other- I genuinely enjoy it.

I have actually been mulling over the idea of talking about sports on here for a while because I feel like someone needs to make sports more relatable for women. With all of the statistics and analysis provided for any game on any given day, I realize that it's challenging to even know where to begin. What I aim to do is to provide the knowledge in a relatable way so that you know what is going on in the world of sports (specifically the Dallas/Texas/Big 12 world of sports but also overall information), basics about how different games are played and who you should know about.

The thing you will have to remember is that I am a girl and I throw like one. I have never been a tomboy a day in my life, I get lost even with a GPS and I don't know a fraction of what the nearest male in your current vicinity probably knows about sports. But I still love it. I plan to keep educating myself so that I can better equip you to, for example, walk into a crowded living room during the Super Bowl and not ask: Who is winning?

Please don't do that.

So this week, we will briefly touch on the Super Bowl, in which the Indianapolis Colts will face off against the New Orleans Saints this Sunday afternoon. Wherever you go will probably have greasy food, beer and hang out around the focal point of the afternoon- that football game on T.V.

The Saints have never made it to the Super Bowl and getting this far in the season is a great accomplishment for them. The Saints went 13-3 in the regular season (pre-playoff games) led by quarterback Drew Brees, and their three losses during that time were consecutive; all at the very end. New Orleans since bounced back for a big win against the Arizona Cardinals and then beat Brett Favre and the Vikings in overtime to become the NFC Champions (National Football Conference) advance to the Super Bowl.

The Colts are looking for another Super Bowl win with their quarterback Peyton Manning, who is arguably one of the best quarterbacks of all time. They went 14-2 in the regular season with both of their losses also coming at the very end of their schedule. They defeated the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets in the playoffs to advance as the AFC Champions (American Football Conference) and go on to the Super Bowl.

(Side-note: the AFC and the NFC are the two conferences in the National Football League {NFL}. There are 16 teams in each conference and the teams play each other within their conference until the Super Bowl, which faces the AFC Champion against the NFC Champion. Many other sports operate under a similar system.)

I am much more familiar with the NFC because that is the conference the Dallas Cowboys fall into and therefore I have watched the Saints play more than the Colts and I have a better idea of the strength of teams they have played. That said, I also know how good Peyton Manning is, and if his team plays up to his level then I think the Colts will have a great chance to win, even if it's by a small margin. The Saints can put points on the board so I think everyone is hoping for a good game.

I'll stop there for today. Hope you learned something!

The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would never wear the same outfit in public.

-Phyllis Diller